Over the TechEDge

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Over the TechEDge

Edu-Connections: Reflections on Educon2.4

February 3, 2012 · No Comments · Edtech, Learning

It has been a week since Educon 2.4.I have needed that time to digest and process the time spent with some of the brightest, most optimistic, passionate thinkers I know.

This year, for the first time, I had the opportunity to spend Friday at Science Leadership Academy, to visit classrooms, share moments with students, and to spend time with friends and colleagues. Spending time with the students and student tour guides made me miss teaching; because the best part about teaching for me was getting to know my students, and guiding them to new discoveries and helping them achieve and overcome new challenges.

 I am grateful that  in Session 1 on Saturday with Paul Allison from the NYC Writing Project when I introduced myself and shared where I worked,I got pleasant smiles and a sense that I was not  only welcome, but teachers were grateful I was there to share their stories and passion. I still missed teaching .

But what surprised me yet again was how connected we are and how small the world has become. There are no longer 6 degrees of separation between any two people, more likely it is less  than three degrees of separation between two people. If I met someone new-most likely we shared a common friend, or had some other personal, poignant connection. This is the world our children will inherit. We must take the learning outside the four walls, and help them make those connections-with their friends, their communities, their world.

I am thankful for those that took the time to share with me and chose to spend time with me, because it was important to me. I appreciate your stories, your ideas, and your voice in all things important to you.Instead of trying to be everywhere for everyone, I had the opportunity to spend quality time with friends, really connecting. I felt a little guilty at first, because there were so many people I wanted to spend time with, but a smile and a hello were all that transpired.So to the new educators I met, to the new connections I made, to my dear friends and colleagues who I was fortunate to spend time with, thank you for an inspiring weekend.I have been thinking about the importance of moving slowly-with intention; reading slowly, deeply, and taking the time to truly get to know each other and make connections- as people, as learners, as a global community.

Perhaps that is the magic of Educon; for those of us that want, it provides a space and place in time to forge connections, to think deeply and slowly and passionately, and to know that we are with friends..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Unlocking the Potential: ISTE 2011-Paying it Forward

July 4, 2011 · 1 Comment · Edtech

Seven years ago I was asked to attend my first National Education Computing Conference (NECC 2004), as a computer using middle school Language Arts teacher, soon to become a Technology Integrator. My friend and colleague the Technology Coordinator recognized my potential-not because I was a techno-whiz, but because I possessed the qualities we now expect 21st century teachers to embody: a passion for learning and problem solving, curiosity, reflectiveness, and empathy. Seven years is a lifetime, but in the big scheme of things, it is a nanosecond. What if we, as educators and leaders, asked someone to attend ISTE2012? It may sound corny, but you never know what potential is waiting just beneath the surface if you don’t ask.

I thought about the enormity of resources I could share, the connections and friends I made, the conversations I had that inspired me and engaged me, as I continue to reflect on the  ISTE11 conference experience. But as I look toward the 2011-2012 school year and the potential that waits to be unlocked, I challenge you to share your favorite apps, websites, lessons, and social networking tools with not only your colleagues, but your friends, relatives and neighbors. It is not just a teacher thing-everyone knows a teacher, and everyone lives in a community with a school. If we keep our learning to ourselves-those that think as we do, then we will never know what potential is waiting beneath the surface. Please be obnoxious about your sharing. You never know where that one little kernel of knowledge will end up.

Some of my favorite ISTE11 take-aways:

SATURDAY-From the Affiliates Meeting : ISTE Affiliates Wiki http://affiliates.iste.wikispaces.net/Affiliates+Home awesome resource for your affiliates and others!

SUNDAY- Site of the first Continental Congress, a printing press and Ben Franklin’s tenement house; ironically enough, our forefathers were 21st century thinkers;-)

via Kathleen McClasky,Ed Tech Associates: Yateslab.com SMART notebook activities for Everyday Math Lessons, Grades 3-5

Science360 App- A beautiful app by the National Science Foundation

MONDAY-

Yoon Soo Lim, Elizabeth Peterson, Michelle Baldwin and Kyle Pace: Music and Tech-Harmony in the Making:  https://sites.google.com/site/musicandtechharmony/

My friends Yoon Soo Lim (@doremigirl) has an amazing voice, Elizabeth Peterson (The Inspired Classroom) has limitless energy and creativity-check out her 4th gr math raps, Michelle Bladwin is an expert at making the connections- and Drum Circles, and Kyle Pace has done amazing things in Lee’s Summit MO-check out his district tech page for all the resources you will ever need! http://its.leesummit.k12.mo.us/

Using Music and Images Ethically in Multimedia Writing  Sandy Hayes, Becker Middle School and NCTE : This was a fantastic session discussing what fair use is and isn’t; check out:

Filmography 2010 Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4dEWOB6THE

http://www.isteconference.org/conferences/ISTE/2011/handout_uploads/KEY_60711720/Hayes_HayesHandoutISTE2011.pdf

TUESDAY

PBL with Mobil Devices Tony Vincent  http://learninginhand.com/pbl/ Awesome to see Tony Vincent live! For cat lovers- there are apps for cats;-)

Favorite iPad Browsers: Perfectbrowser, Atomic Browser, SidebySide and iswifter

Storykit- combine image, drawing, text and voice to create a storybook, or view online as a web page.

I also met Chris Betcher (@betchaboy) and he was kind enough to give me a copy of his paperback book: The Interactive White board revolution, featuring examples of how teachers are revolutionizing teaching with these devices.

WEDNESDAY

Jodie Bower, Putnam City HS, Teacher of the Year finalist in OK @fzzktchr and The Science Classroom Blog, Thanks to Eric Hiielman, @ittosde, for introducing us!

BYO Cell Phone: Collaborative Activities for the Classroom- Powerpoint on ISTE11 Planner Website; I can’t wait to use some of the polling and chat activities with our administrators!

Skyline High School Curriculum and Portfolio Integration Project using Google tools- this was my favorite session takeaway-not so much for its innovative use of Google tools, but for how prepared and engaging the presenters were. They have a clear, easy to follow procedure for introducing Google sites and docs with staff and students; love it!

EXHIBIT HALL

INTEL TEACH Free teacher PD http://www.intel.com/about/corporateresponsibility/education/programs/intelteach_us/program.htm

Renaissance Learning- FREE TRAINING http://www.renlearn.com/training/search/default.aspx?p=2KNOW&t=Classroom+Response&r=Return+to+2Know!

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Are We There Yet? Reflecting on EduCon 2.3

February 3, 2011 · No Comments · Learning

Last year I attended my first Educon, in person. I was awestruck and filled with “Aha” moments. I bounced from session to session, I met fellow educators face to face with whom I had previously connected online; and I had some wonderful conversations-mostly with my travel companions who I got to know a little better and care about a little bit more. I forged new relationships and strengthened existing ones. I wondered, “How can we replicate this in our own state?”

This year I was looking forward to Educon, but not with the same enthusiasm and excitement as one does when they experience something for the very first time. I am reminded of the television commercial about Disney World in which a little boy is too excited to sleep because he is leaving for Disney in the morning. That was me last year. This year I was a bit more realistic. My plan was to peruse the schedule, support my colleagues by attending their sessions, create new relationships and strengthen existing relationships. I accomplished my goals and then some!

I have been accused, tongue in cheek, for a very long time, of being a “visionary.” My colleagues tell me the education world is not ready for me. But this is me, and this is how I think, for better or for worse. I am the “Why not?” person that refuses to settle.

So here I am, back home, trying to mold my thoughts and ideas into reality, while at the same time, staying true to my vision for the future. I appreciate the  Educon weekend,  and I love being able to support SLA, but more importantly, I appreciate the face to face time I get to spend having conversations with colleagues from around the globe, including those in my own backyard, who inspire me and at the same time keep me grounded in reality.

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Those that inspire…teach

November 22, 2010 · 2 Comments · Learning

I have been a public school educator close to 20 years; I have been an educator my whole life. My grandmother ran one of the first daycares in the country, albeit a small one out of her home, but my mom still tells story about coming home from school to find strange small children in her house. My uncle was a teacher, my mom was a teacher. I did not want to be a teacher, when I went to high school, because I was smart, I thought I wanted to be a doctor or something “important.” Nobody in my high school track wanted to be a teacher, except, perhaps, those that came from a family of educators. I had some fantastic, inspiring teachers, don’t get me wrong, but teaching, as a profession, was not encouraged. Teachers were not respected, they were not paid very well, and “anybody” could become a teacher. The saying back then was, “Those that can’t…teach.”

Today I am fortunate to work with some great educators who know how important it is to mentor and encourage young people to become educators. Some of these teachers did not start out in the field of education, while others come from generations of teachers. What do they all have in common? They are passionate about teaching and sharing not only their subject matter, but their opinions, their thoughts, their ideas and their hopes and dreams. Why is this important? Passion promotes learning-whether you agree or disagree with the thoughts and ideals presented, no one can argue that the teacher who is passionate resonates with students and colleagues, for better or for worse. These teachers may not be the most highly skilled teachers of content, they may not have the most skilled technique, but they are, nonetheless, inspirational.  My favorite story is about a colleague who teaches biochemistry. He is a scientist-who decided to become a teacher with the hopes of inspiring his students to someday become research scientists who will go on to find the cure for disease, or to find better solutions to fossil fuel.  He admits that he did not stay in research because there was too much reading and writing-skills that were not his strengths. His strengths are his passion for science and for sharing that passion with his students.

We are blogging for education reform in America.  The teacher in the classroom, whether face to face of virtual, has always had and continues to have the most impact on a child’s education.  It is time we start respecting that teachers hold the hopes and dreams of generations of scientists, mathematicians, Nobel  winners, explorers, adventurers, parents, and leaders  in  the palm of their hand and treating them as such. We need to encourage the best teachers to become better and to become leaders in their field. We need to shift our thinking from “Those that can’t …teach,” to “Those that inspire..teach.”

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Summer Learning, Something’s Begun…

August 17, 2010 · No Comments · Edtech

This post may also be read at: The Inspired Classroom

In February, upon returning from Educon I blogged about the importance of building relationships in education-and in life. This is true in the classroom, in your school, your district, your community, your family-wherever you are in life. Maybe that is why social networking apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Ning, and a host of others have reached a critical mass. In this electronic, fast moving, digital  world where anyone and everyone has access to all the information they need-and more-in spite of the independence this inspires, we are feeling the need to stay connected more than ever. But connecting electronically is not enough to create the types of lasting, trustworthy relationships we need and desire to learn and grow.

In July I had the fantastic opportunity to connect and learn from some amazing people who just happen to be educators. Thanks to federal funds our district received via the federal government’s Enhancing Education through Technology budget, I was able to put together a three week technology summer institute-a veritable “buffet of knowledge” according to one of my teachers. The idea grew from my PLN, and the connections I had made throughout my career, and the year. From little more than a tweet and a request for workshop facilitators, I was able to connect and get to know Kyle Pace, and Steven Anderson; I was able to re-connect with Paula White, Pam Carr, Elizabeth Peterson, Marcy Royce, and John Fladd. I also re-connected with several of my own teachers, including Kathy Vetter, Sandy Blanc, Andrea Levesque and Jennifer Fritz. We invited teachers from area districts to participate-and so I was able to make connections with five area school districts; getting to know some of their teachers. Besides the opportunities for thoughtful collegial conversation with education leaders from as far south as Missouri-the institute brought together more than 50 k-12 teachers from our district from 3-30 hours over 15 days. Teachers were able to connect with each other, connect ideas, and share their stories-an amazing opportunity for all of us. In the coming days I will be creating a Summer Learning 2010 wiki with many of the best resources shared from those three weeks. In the meantime, here are some links to help you connect to some of my friends’ favorite resources:

Create Communicate, Collaborate Presentation-Steven W. Anderson

Everything Google Presentation, Kyle Pace; resources via Richard Byrne

Using Primary Sources to Teach Visual Literacy, Paula White

Using Audacity to integrate music across the curriculum- Elizabeth Peterson

How to be a Search Guru- Kathy Vetter, Somersworth High School Librarian

FREE Web 20 tools for awesome projects- John Fladd, Deerfield Community School

Moodle 101- Pam Carr, Oyster River High School and Virtual Learning Academy teacher

Photoshop- Sandy Blanc, Somersworth High School art teacher

Animation-ish by Fablevision- Andrea Levesque, Somersworth elementary teacher

Learning to use SMART Notebook software- Jennifer Fritz, Somersworth middle school teacher

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Unintended Learning

July 24, 2010 · 3 Comments · Edtech, Learning, Tools

Yesterday’s Google Docs workshop started out with the teacher (me) fully in control. I had gone through Google’s Educator Apps training modules, I had created a 2 page handout, and I had a demo document set up so we could try it out in the workshop. As soon as teachers logged in, however, there was an immediate issue: three of my elementary teachers could not log in. I forgot that when we set up Google Docs to pilot-I had asked for middle and high School accounts only. A year is a long time to remember what you asked for.

And just like a typical classroom teaching experience, I needed to think and react-so I asked the remaining 8 teachers to “explore” on our district Google Docs site, using the Google Doc I had already created-while I tried to troubleshoot the log in issue. Within 5 minutes, one teacher had discovered Google forms and quizzes and was making quizzes for the other teachers; all the teachers were typing running commentary onto the Google Demo Doc-much like a back channel. Since they had all been give editing permissions, they were adding and deleting each other’s comments at will.

“Cathy how do I get her to stop deleting my comments?”

“This is fun! It’s like chatting and talking without the noise! The kids are gonna love this!”

“I am having a hard time reading everybody’s comments-it’s going too fast!”

“Can I email this to someone?”

Meanwhile, I was trying to manually add 3 teacher accounts through Moodle, with my IT guy providing support via Google chat, telling me if I add them manually I could “break it”, meaning, I had probably already broken something because I always try at least three things before I even ask for help. Twenty minutes later, all three teachers could log in, but one of them had “view only” permission so she couldn’t really do anything.

Feeling as if I had lost control of my “classroom” I stopped everyone and asked, “So if you were going to use this in your classroom- you can see that kids first will need time to explore- and how long did it take someone to learn how to use Google Forms?”

“Five minutes-maybe.”

“And I see everyone has discovered how to edit a document-now I need a volunteer to create an official notes page for this workshop that will be published for everyone to see. Although your backchannel document is fine-we need notes for the class. May I have a volunteer?”

I got a little grief when one teacher shouted out and I chose the teacher who raised her hand. “Thank you for raising your hand,” and I modeled having a student set up a notes page, adding editors, and off we went.

As we continued the workshop and our class was busy taking notes, the backchannel chatter mostly stopped. It also became apparent we needed a lesson in note taking, however, which you could model early in the Google doc’s implementation stage. I asked for someone else to organize the notes by topic, with bullets-no easy task!

At the end of the class, our one student had “checked out” because she still had view only permission to the notes doc (I really had broken it), and that became a moment for us to discuss what happens when technology doesn’t go according to plan- because it will happen.

“I usually ask the kids if anyone knows how to fix it.”

Open it up to a class discussion. If you cannot take the time out of class to troubleshoot or wait for a solution, then make sure you have a plan B that allows ALL students in the class to be active participants.

Overall, the workshop was successful, but I can’t help feeling badly about my one  student-teacher who sat frustrated for most of class, and refused to do anything. If that had been a student in my class what would I have done? What would you have done? I know now-but in the middle of my lesson, things weren’t so clear.

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Teachers Rock Minigrant Projects: Part II

May 10, 2010 · 1 Comment · Edtech

In Part I of this blog post, I shared just a few of the lessons learned by the Rollinsford teachers during the planning, implementation and documentation of their minigrant project on the effects of technology on fluency in primary readers. This blog shares some of what the Somersworth minigrant team learned, as well.

The Somersworth minigrant team consisted of 2 second grade and 2 third grade teachers, who enthusiastically embraced the idea of applying for funds-but it was a challenge to blend 2 grade level social studies content standards, into one technology infused unit. Their overarching technology goal was to learn to use the ENO interactive whiteboard. My goal: to expose them to some web 2.o applications that would allow them to communicate any time, any where. So we blended a traditional unit with a new, more tech integrated unit.

Each team of 2 classrooms received an ENO CLick, a digital projector, and a laptop capable of creating multimedia. The school also received Fablevision’s Animation-ish software for their laptop cart. The project, was to animate FLAT STANLEY to travel throughout the world to compare life in other countries to life in Somersworth (second grade); and for Stanley to travel back  in time through historic Somersworth. The beauty of this project was that it was a social studies unit made better through the use of technology. And everyone involved learned so much more than was intended.

Lessons learned included:

Animationish software is very engaging and easy to use-and comes with many, many lesson plan examples-but the software needs some tweaking in order to be used seamlessly on our server. We needed to dowload copies to the local machine and log in locally in order to avoid clogging our network pipes. But we LOVE the program.

the ENO CLICK: we love how flexible and mobile it is-and how easy it is to move between classrooms, and the board itself  is amazing! But the wireless reciver and pen need constant re-pairing, and are subject to random issues that prevent the pen from communicating with the board. Again, we love the product, but it needs some tweaking. We are still troubleshooting this and are trying to figure out when the problems arise.

EasiTeach software- this is the IWB software that comes packaged with the Polyvision ENO board. It is easy enough to use right out of the box, but the Content pack installs without a desktop shortcut, and the content is difficult to find.So far, we like SMART’s software better.

WIRELESS- We discovered the wireless setup in our elementary building is not suitable for whole class wireless use, especially int he afternoon. Part of this is due to the inadequacy of the access points, the other is our T1 line which is shared between 3 buildings. We really need faster, bigger pipes.

EDUBLOGS: We discovered  that it takes an incredible amount of planning and patience to work with technology, and that some things work and others thing do not. Having set up each classroom teacher with her own Edublog, one teacher uses it as a class blog, while another teacher wanted to use it with 2nd graders to post their own “blog.” This required far too many steps for each second grader to be able to post their own blog; instead we decided to have students and families leave comments. We are still tweaking our Edublogs accounts-because we do not have enough storage to upload many pictures and video. We did learn everything needs to be compressed before loading.

OTHER LESSONS LEARNED:

Leave a second key to the closet where the mice are stored in case the secretary is out sick.

Kids can do a lot more than we think they can-they deserve technology that works.

It’s important to show kids that technology does not always work best-and it is important for teachers to learn alongside students.

It is okay to make mistakes and to not know how to do something.

And just as with writing, your work is never really finished or final-you can always make it better.

Teachers will be sharing their projects as part of the NH Minigrant Celebration the end of May. We will be happy to share the project documentary at that time!

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Teachers Rock District Minigrant Projects

May 8, 2010 · 1 Comment · Edtech, Learning

Back in the Fall, my two school districts applied for State of NH technology minigrants. In order to apply for the grant funds (Title II D Enhancing Education through Technology)I needed to find teachers willing to plan a technology infused project, implement it with their classrooms,and document their work in a movie. My two teams finished their movies and submitted them on Friday, and I couldn’t be more proud!

Rollinsford’s minigrant team consisted of a kindergarten , first grade, and second grade teacher-and their teacher interns. Their project: to use technology to improve fluency in primary readers. This was the first time the school had ever applied for a competitive grant, and the money they received was used to purchase multimedia laptops for teachers, Scholastic Keys software for kids, FLIP video cameras, iPod Nano’s, headphone splitters, printer scanners and Reader’s Theater materials.

The  3 minute movie does not begin to tell the story of what the three teachers learned over 6 months. They learned how to download software, when Active Directory requires administrative privileges; they learned how to set up and use itunes with their Nanos’s; they learned how to convert cassette tape stories to Mp3′s using Audacity; they learned to use FLIP video cameras and convert FLIP mp4 files to avi files using Any Video Converter; and lastly, they learned to use Windows moviemaker to create a documentary outlining their project. But what they really learned cannot be summarized in a paragraph and reduced to a list of hardware and software. They learned that using technology makes a world of difference in reading fluency. Studnets used the FLIP recorders and Nano’s to record their reading, and wee able to play back their own recording to receive feedback. Students were able to hear how they sounded while reading and performing, and compare that with professional storytellers reading to them on their Nano’s.

“If I had known how much I was going to learn by doing this, I would have done this a long time ago-grant or no grant, one of the teachers said. “This was the most amazing professional development I have ever had because it was something I have always wanted to do. “I would do it again-I know it was a lot of work, but I would definitely do it again.”

Although the project movie was submitted, this Primary Reading Fluency project is not finished. The results will be shared with the University of NH reading education program, and the teachers will continue to use technology with their students in order to help them grow and learn. For  more information on the NH Minigrant Project check out:

http://www.nheon.org/oet/nclb/2009-10/MinigrantsGettingStarted.pdf

The Rollinsford Fluency Project movie will be posted as soon as it is published.

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Do as I say, not as I do

March 27, 2010 · No Comments · Edtech

What are we teaching kids implicitly?

We love new technology in schools, everyone supports it! It is expected that everyone use technology throughout their day, and teach students how to use it as well. Explicitly, we support the use of technology in our technology plan, in our policies and procedures, in the grant applications we write, and in our conversations with each other.

“If it’s so important, why aren’t they giving us time to learn how to use it?”

But what message are we really sending? Professional development focuses on literacy, math and behavior-with no training or support for how technology can be used to benefit students, teachers and families in these areas. Teachers are expected, on their own time, to seek out workshops, webinars and resources to try to figure it out on their own. The implicit message is-AYP is important, and right now the only things that matter are reading and math scores. Administrators and teachers fear for their jobs if they cannot raise test scores. There is no time to learn and take risks in the classroom setting where reading and math are concerned. There is no time to have fun learning science and social studies, and there is certainly no time to spare if the wireless network is glitch or if an entire class period needs to be devoted to learning how to use the interactive white board!

As I spend time talking with teachers about their needs in the classroom in order to integrate technology into their lessons, it is clear they feel they have no time to learn new skills, and develop new ways of teaching using these skills. Research indicates it takes three years for teachers to adopt something new, and yet ten years into the twenty-first century, there are teachers who have not adopted technology because implicitly, it is not important. If it takes three years from when it is first introduced, then we are looking at 2014.

Our 5th graders were born in the twenty-first century and will be getting ready to head off to high school in 3-4 years. What will we have taught them? Hand held devices are not allowed in school and should not be seen. You must still know how to format a bibliography by counting spaces and using caps in all the right places; you must still know how to look words up in a print dictionary, and you must still know how to do long division with paper and pencil-because that is what we test you on and that is what is important. Heck, we still expect our students to be able to write, revise and edit using paper and pencil-and do it well.

“But how do you know it works? I KNOW what I’m doing works.”

It is increasingly difficult to convince teachers to use technology, when they are seeing results raising test scores the old fashioned way-with paper and pencil practice, practice, practice. Until we implicitly support the use of technology to help raise test scores AND prepare our children for the future, we are sending a very mixed message-do as I say, not as I do. It is time for leaders to do more than say they support the use of technology in the classroom; they must make it a priority. They must allow their teachers the time they need to learn it, and plan for its use on a daily basis. They must hire reading and math consultants who are tech savvy, and they must make a commitment to educating every teacher how to use technology effectively in a classroom setting every day.

5 Minutes with Sir Ken Robinson Watch this video

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Breaking Newton’s Third Law

March 13, 2010 · 1 Comment · 1:1 Computing, Edtech, Learning, mobile learning, Tools

“What is Newton’s third law? “

Fig out how to go to a website to authenticate on the server

Fig out how to go to a website to authenticate on the server

“For every action there is a reaction?”

“Yes-for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. So what do you think your parents and everyone else in the community think you are going to do with the iPods?”

“Listen to music and play games!”

“Right! So we are going to break Newton’ third law! We are going to show everybody, that instead of the reaction you expect when kids use iPods in the classroom, amazing things happen and a whole lot of learning takes place.”

Today was the inaugural iPod touch day with the sixth grade class! Thanks to Becky Fisher and Paula White from Albemarle County School District in Virginia, every Somersworth School District sixth grader experienced using an iPod touch in the classroom for activities like using Astronomy Picture of the Day to look up space words for their ABC’s of Space wiki; using Idiomatic to find idioms they wanted to learn-then navigating to the Idiom Wiki to use one of the three idiom websites to find the meaning of their idioms. They used apps like Fraction’s Kitchen, Fraction Factory and Number Line to evaluate their favorite fraction app, and then explored thirds, sixths and sevenths. Every lesson with every group of students proved to be an engaging learning experience for teachers and students!

It can also be used as a game, once students learn what the idioms mean!

It can also be used as a game, once students learn what the idioms mean!

The embedded iPod professional development day was a follow up to a fast paced, engaging, hands on, teacher iPod workshop in which ten teachers walked away with an iPod touch to use in their classroom.

What did we learn?

Teachers, grown-ups and students need time to tinker-they need time with the device to figure stuff out on their own; we should not give them all the answers-tinkering is part of learning

Learning is social-learners need time to talk to each other about their learning-asking questions, giving advice, sharing discoveries, and working it out

Procedures and rules are good-for everyone. Be clear and up front, be realistic, and don’t expect learners to “know” what the boundaries are

Make learning transparent – if you are the teacher, it is okay not to have all the answers; learn alongside your students; let them become experts and share their learning with you. There’s nothing like empowering students.

We are looking forward to breaking Newton’s third law.

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